<p>Although the rep is improving, USC is still considered a big party school by those of us in CA. The students who attend in my kids’ circles all received large awards - presidential scholarships and half tuition from their NMS tuition program. But full pay when you have an option like Tulane? Even without future med school costs, I don’t see how it would be worth it unless you were going for a specific major, like film, and planning to stay in SoCal for the networking.</p>
<p>I strongly suspect that the “don’t worry about the money, go with your heart” folks are your peers, with no experience in financial matters or higher education, while the “you’d be nuts to pass up the merit money at a great school” people are adults with track records in both areas. If that is indeed the case, that should tell you all you need to know.</p>
<p>Given that paying for the full pay schools would be a struggle for your family, and you envision expensive medical school in your future, you should seriously strongly consider the less expensive schools – Tulane, UT Austin, Texas A&M.</p>
<p>Visit Tulane again and ask some of your hard questions there - ask students, professors, admissions people. Don’t be shy about it - you have a right to ask every question under the sun, given the amount of money your family is investing! My husband sometimes asked some pointed questions on college visits that my son found embarrasing, but my husband just said “They want me to spend about $250,000 here, I’m entitled to ask WHY”.
See if there are “substance-free” housing options which might help segregate you from the hard-core partying crowd.
If you are studying a pre-med curriculum, you will find lots of people with a similar mindset in your classes. Ditto for an “honors” program.
Don’t put too much stock in opinions forums - most kids who love or like the school don’t bother to write in about how they feel. It is most often the “whiners” that go online to complain.
If you dislike Tulane after being there a year, transfer out.
The cost of medical school is staggering, you need to give the least expensive option a shot.</p>
<p>Does it make a difference that OP didn’t say “struggle?” She said make some sacrfices and the examples were: Mom goes back to work (which she was planning on, once OP headed off) and delaying a kitchen reno?</p>
<p>And, no matter what $ Tulane gave, OP doesn’t like the place.</p>
<p>“I strongly suspect that the “don’t worry about the money, go with your heart” folks are your peers…”</p>
<p>Actually, it’s the opposite. My friends all want me to go to UT to be with/near them. It’s their parents, my teachers, and my relatives (uncles, grandparents, and my parents) who are encouraging me to pick ND, UVA or USC.</p>
<p>@lookingforward - yes, my mom can go back to her old job, where they’ve been begging her to return for years. And no, my parents would not go into debt. However, they would have to put some things off, like buying new cars, redoing the kitchen, etc. and would have a tighter budget.</p>
<p>If your parents are on board then, is the deal-maker paying for med school? or could that be covered (or helped,) too? Are your parents happier about you going to ND, UVA (I love UVA) or USC, despite some of the discretionary things they would delay, than seeing you at Tulane? You’re in, I think, a slightly different position than kids whose families seriously struggle and then end up with massive debt.</p>
<p>It’s important to consider costs, yes. $200k-plus is huge. I’m glad you are aware of this and trying to weigh carefully.</p>
<p>Reading your post- it sounds like you really don’t want to go to Tulane. Other than the money (and the Creative Scholars program) you have not identified any positives. Having gone to the more cost effective option for school, which was not a good “fit” (full disclosure it was USC back in the dark ages), I can’t urge you to go to a place that is the cheapest even if you really don’t particularly like it. That said, I can’t say I would necessarily suggest ND, USC or University of VA. All are good, but party schools. I would relook at your list and see if there is one with a better fit than Tulane, but less expensive than the three full pay. (I understand if you think Baylor is too sectarian, but you might want to double check if it has an active Newman Center or alternative before you dismiss it as a choice. YMMV)</p>
<p>“Visit Tulane again and ask some of your hard questions there - ask students, professors, admissions people.”</p>
<p>I spent 3 days on campus. Of course the admissions people, the tour guides and my student host all had great things to say about it. </p>
<p>“Where did you get the information that so many students party and look to transfer because of that?” </p>
<p>From posts here and on other forums, and by contacting current students. Part of my strategy for choosing a school has been to look at all the negative comments and look for trends… contact the people and get more detailed info, trying to figure out if they’re valid complaints or just “whiners” or isolated cases… and decide if the problems would affect or bother me. For instance, the biggest complaints about UT are the huge class sizes, trouble getting classes or meeting with professors, and feeling like a number. That would bother me. The most common complaint about UVA is “everyone is rich and snobby”… I take that with a grain of salt and don’t think it would be an issue for me. At ND, the big complaints are parietals (wouldn’t bother me) and the weather (would bother me). At Tulane, the overwhelming complaint is that partying starts on Tuesday and goes all week, and trouble finding friends to study/hang out with because everyone goes out every night. If it was just a few people, I’d think, okay this person just isn’t very social… but it seems like a LOT of people have that complaint. I’m very social and plan to have my share of fun in college, but I’m also a serious student. I’m just afraid I’d either be tempted to go out more than I should, or be stuck by myself in the library all the time with no friends.</p>
<p>Most of you here are in favor of Tulane, I think because it is the cheapest option. Miami has also given me some money, so I’m curious why no one has suggested that? Is Tulane a better school than Miami?</p>
<p>No, it’s because Miami, USC, and ND are bigger party schools than Tulane.</p>
<p>The school with the serious pre-med reputation is Tulane. If I had to choose between USC, ND, Tulane, and Miami with NO aid money at any of them for a pre-med, I’d still choose Tulane. </p>
<p>We are at post #52. There has been exactly one semi-positive comment about USC or ND - “That said, I can’t say I would necessarily suggest ND, USC or University of VA. All are good, but party schools.” This is from a person who actually attended USC. </p>
<p>It is true that no one at ND seems to complain about their drinking. They like it too much!</p>
<p>The op said, “Why not Baylor? I love Baylor, the campus is so pretty and I think it’s a great school. However, being Catholic, I don’t think that a Baptist school would be the best fit for me.”</p>
<p>If you love Baylor check out the Baylor Catholic Student Association (CSA) and St. Peter’s Catholic Church which is right off campus. Did you know that the majority of Baylor students are not Baptist? I read that 12% of Baylor students are Catholic. Thomas Hibbs, a Catholic philosopher, was hired by Baylor as the dean of the Honors College and a professor in philosophy. Before Baylor, Hibbs was at Notre Dame and Boston College. </p>
<p>If you plan to accept your parent’s offer to pay significantly more money for one school over another, you owe it to them to at least have great reasons for adding on that extra cost. You really want to research the schools where you’ve applied and been accepted and have the facts. It’s easy to let the emotion cloud your vision, but if you are serious about medical school, that is going to be a major expense. At least fairly consider all your lower cost options for undergrad. Maybe Baylor isn’t your best fit, but before you toss them out, fact check your assumptions. Look at A&M - I think there is an active group of Aggie Catholics, too. </p>
<p>And, why Tulane and not Miami? Maybe because Miami is still $10k more. That’s a lot of money that could be put toward med school.</p>
<p>Am reposting this as you seem to have skipped over it. Please look into the 6+1 accelerated med school program at Tulane [Tulane</a> Admission: About Tulane](<a href=“http://admission.tulane.edu/livecontent/news/69-61-accelerated-medical-school-program.html]Tulane”>http://admission.tulane.edu/livecontent/news/69-61-accelerated-medical-school-program.html) the link inside this link seems to be broken, but I assume the program still exists. Its a great opportunity and certainly not for slackers. You complete 2 years of undergrad, do a year of community service and then go right into med school, with the first year of med school functioning as the final year of college (undergrad). For the right, motivated student, its a great opportunity and a big cost-saver.</p>
<p>The Tulane Creative Scholars program is really amazing (on paper). Pre-medical students have to major in a NON-SCIENCE subject. They they have an automatic acceptance into med. school after sophomore year. They don’t HAVE TO attend Tulane for Med. School, but it guarantees that they can. </p>
<p>The six+one program also sounds amazing! Finish med school in six years, and then a year of public service! ND, USC, UVA, etc. don’t have anything even close to matching, as far as I am aware.</p>
<p>Look - we all know you want parents on this thread to say - “It’s okay. Your parents have half a million dollars to splurge on college and medical school. Go to Notre Dame and be a cheerleader.” So far, not a single one has stepped forward for you. Maybe you should share this thread with your relatives.</p>
<p>mini-
The year of community service is done after the second year of college, before starting the first year of med school, and the premedical scholars program has some requirements (eg GPA of 3.6) etc.
</p>
<p>Is it one program or two? (that’s what I found confusing) I especially like the requirement that student have to major in a non-science subject. I know so many docs who now wish they’d had a course in art history, or music appreciation or other things outside their medical lives.</p>
<p>They are completely separate programs. The 6+1 students major in Biomedical engineering, IIRC.</p>
<p>Of course, Tulane is not the biggest pre-med powerhouse in NOLA. That honor would go to Xavier. (Last time I looked, they had 350+ graduates currently enrolled in med schools across the country.)</p>
<p>FWIW, Xavier is a HBCU, and there is more than one Xavier. Are you sure you aren’t looking at numbers that combine both schools? Xavier of LA only has about 3400 undergrads. You sure they are sending that many to med school?</p>